The present invention relates to an electric drive system for a vehicle, an electric control system for a vehicle, and an electric drive method for a vehicle.
For electrically driving a vehicle, an engine is used to generate power with which an alternator is driven to generate electric power which is used to drive a motor for moving the vehicle. Specifically, the alternator is driven by the engine to generate electric power which is then converted to a direct current (DC) by a rectifier, and the DC power is supplied to an inverter. Further, the DC input is converted to an alternate current (AC) output by the inverter, an AC motor is driven with the AC output to rotate wheels through gears, thus driving a vehicle to move.
For retarding a vehicle, the AC motor is operated as an alternator, while the inverter is operated as a converter to convert AC power to DC power. Such a technique is described, for example, in JP-A-2000-224709.